Basketball (Men's)
Pace's 21 points leads SBU past OPSU
By
Dec 7, 2005, 10:34

[box vs. OPSU]

Pace had a season high 21 points vs. OPSU with 6 assists and 7 steals.

GOODWELL, OK. ... Pushing their record to 9-0, Southwest Baptist University cruised to a 92-64 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State.  Jeff Guiot is the third coach to have a SBU team to 9-0.

Senior Sheldon Pace only missed four shots from the floor as he was 8-of-12 for 21 points.  He made five three-pointers on seven attempts.  He also recorded six assists and seven steals.  Juan Lopez turned in 12 points followed by Jim Grabowski with 11 and Frans Steyn with 10.  Steyn and Grabowski led the team with seven rebounds.  William Preston had 23 points for OPSU.

SBU led from the opening bucket all the way to the end buzzer as Pace started the game with a three-pointer.  SBU raced out to an early 12-point lead in the first eight minutes, 23-11, but OPSU battled back to cut the lead to four, 23-19, in less than two minutes.  SBU kept their distance and by the 5:49 mark had the lead back into double digits.  Steyn tipped in a bucket to make it 35-24.  Juan Lopez gave SBU their largest first half lead of 15 points with just 00:53 left in the half on a tip in.  SBU then took a 13-point lead into the half, 44-31.

The second half was all SBU as they shot 51% from the floor and maded 43% from three-point range.  They were also 5-of-5 from the free throw line.  Only three minutes into the second half, another Steyn tip in pushed SBU's lead to 21-points, 54-33.  With 14:28 to go in the game, Juan Lopez made a layup to give SBU a 30-point lead, 68-38.  That is the largest lead SBU would have in the game.  OPSU did bring the lead down to 21 points with 2:05 to go but that is as close as they would come. 

Overall, SBU shot 48% from the floor and 37% from beyond the arc.  They only had 11 turnovers and forced 17.  SBU also had five blocks and 11 steals.  They out rebounded OPSU, 43-29.

The Bearcats will try for a 10-0 start on Saturday as they host Truman State at 3:30 in the MIAA opener at the Meyer Sports Center.